My three pfennigs on the story:
On Fri, 28 Jan 2000, David Johnston wrote:
Don Granberry wrote:
[Correction. Akane and Nabiki grew up with Kasumi. Kasumi appears to have had
much more memory of their mother. Besides, what Kasumi says here is the current
anthropological, politically correct gospel of the millenium anyway.
Kasumi might want to include her own experience in this matter,
mentioning the void that not having a mother has left in the girls lives
and how this is worse for Ranma.
Would it be worse for Ranma? You could argue that the loss caused by
taking away something precious is worse than never having had it to begin
with - Ranma doesn't seem to so much as ever have considered the fact that
he's got a mother somewhere. :)
"Even if the demons are Fiends of the Happosai?"
"Especially, if they are friends of Happosai." Tofu laughed.
Is it "fiends" or "friends?"
[Three strikes and it's out. Nobody got it.]
I got it.
I think I've got it. Then again, I might be missing some deeper joke than
the simple wordplay.
[Why would he have cause to fear Nabiki would do anything further to hurt her
own sister? Can he not logically expect Nabiki to look out for Akane's welfare,
especially if she knows that he is pissed at her? More importantly, some of the
things he needs done are things best done by Nabiki. I'll smooth this a bit, but
not much.]
The point is, Ranma is not being entirely logical here. He's suffering
from serious anxiety.
And Nabiki has, in the past, done things that have had a negative impact
on Akane. The closest she's ever come to actually physically endangering
her is setting up circumstances that are almost guaranteed to start a
fight - the wedding comes to mind as an example.
While I suspect that even a slightly crazed Ranma would have to reach to
see Nabiki as a threat, I do find the whole sudden 'sister-brother'
relationship here a bit suspect. Canonically, the warmest the two ever get
is "on the same side due to outside circumstances," and even then they're
guarded at best. They certainly have a healthy respect for each others'
abilities, but I don't think they like each other much. And a paranoid
Ranma is a poor candidate to suddenly start trusting someone who's made a
career out of selling him out in small and not-so-small ways.
[I haven't read _Ill Met by Starlight_. It has a "dark" label. I HATE dark. Is
that a contradiction in terms? Oh well, your point is well taken. I will work on
this one.]
Ill Met By Starlight isn't "dark" in the sense that it is a pit of
slathering sadism and vileness. Nor is it dark in the sense the forces
of evil triumph over the forces of good. It's just dark in the sense
that a character who is normally a pretty good guy is the villain of the
piece and does some nasty things. It is worth looking at.
As one of the authors, I really wouldn't call it dark. There are certainly
dark bits in it - but that's true of just about any drama fanfic. If
anything, it's a psychological thriller and a love story.
You could probably put it somewhere between Hearts of Ice and Waters Under
Earth on the Dark-O-Meter. ;)
At any rate, it's got a Nabiki similar in a lot of ways to yours in it. :)
Read it! Worship it! Is it not nifty? ;)
Anyway, back to this fic... I think the issue on Shampoo was an important
one. I can see Ranma going a bit ballistic against her in the condition
you're describing... he just got a sharp reminder of Akane's mortality,
and would be less likely to dismiss threats.
It was the whole "kill Shampoo" thing that threw me off - isn't this a
bitextreme? Granted, yeah, his condition lends itself to extremes, but he
still strikes me as being in possession of enough of his faculties to go
through other options first, such as:
A) "Hey, Shampoo, I love Akane and I don't love you. Sorry for stringing
you along for a year." If the nitwit would just make a definitive
statement on who he does and doesn't love, his life would be much, much
easier. Almost all of his women problems come from the fact that he
waffles on the issue more than an entire chain of IHOPs.
B) If that doesn't work, talk to Cologne and explain that her
great-dranddaughter is setting herself up to be Moko Takabisha'd into a
fine red spray. Cologne is quite capable of bringing Shampoo to heel if
need arises - and I suspect she would, as she's shown herself to be pretty
fond of Ranma in the past.
I just can't see him killing someone who he thinks of as a good friend
without at least trying to talk the matter out.
Hope that helps.
-ML
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